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Tesla Q4 2017 Report Looks Sunny, Bodes Well For 2018

CBS Local/CNET — 2017 was a big year for Tesla. It was full of ups like the first customer deliveries of the Model 3, the debut of the Tesla Semi and the new Tesla Roadster; and downs like the production bottlenecks and quality issues that have dogged the Model 3 and delayed ramp-up to start handling the hundreds of thousands of pre-orders. Despite all that, financially, 2017 as a whole and the fourth quarter, in particular, weren’t huge for the EV giant.

The big news is that Tesla maintains that it will hit 2500 cars per week by the end of next month and that it’s on track to make its ambitious 5000 vehicles per week goal for Model 3 production by the end of Q2 2018. This was a real concern given the tone that Elon Musk took in the Q3 call, referring to the Model 3 as being in “production hell.

Revenue for the company is up by 36% over 2016, and Zero Emissions Vehicle credit sales are way, way up to $179 million in Q4 2017 from just $20 million in Q4 2016. Also of note is that from a cashflow position, Tesla was pretty close to breaking even in 2017, amazing considering massive investments that it was forced to make in Model 3 production in Fremont and Gigafactory 1.

Throughout this, Tesla maintained that 2018 will be a huge year for it, expecting Model S and Model X to peak at 100,000 deliveries coupled with the expansion of Model 3’s production to 5000 cars per week which, if all goes to plan, would see Tesla receiving a 25% margin on each Model 3 sold.